To wrap around you
by Fayth3
Summary: Happy!Who fic. Each regeneration differentiates himself by his clothes. So what does it mean when she wears them? Prompt scarves


**Scarves**.

In each regeneration he tries to wear something that sets him apart from the rest of his selves.

It's a kind of protection; a way of segregating himself from the mistakes he made in the previous incarnation.

It's a way of starting afresh, a blank slate. Tabula Rasa.

Sometimes it's almost a kind of armour, protecting himself from what had gone before or guarding against what may come.

His first self lived long enough to know that life was hard and cruel and dressed accordingly. Dickens would have been proud of the severe dress he favoured, a dress code which prompted his next incarnation to purposely wear huge collars and clownish trousers to prove that he wasn't such a miser.

From cricket jumpers to bowler hats, multi-coloured umbrellas to lavish coats, every item that distinguished him was a personal and very intimate part of him.

This explained why his jaw dropped upon Rose's entrance into the console room wearing a scarf.

Not just any scarf.

The scarf.

The scarf his fourth regeneration had worn as a trophy, a triumph, a shield and a weapon.

She noticed his staring and gave a little spin. "What'd'ya think?"

He knew that she was referring to the cute boots and short skirt; she had been carefully branching away from the baggy tops and cargo trousers that she had originally favoured when they first met. The new clothes, tighter fitting and sexy showed how she was developing as a woman and he knew that she was uneasy about the transformation and he usually complimented her on her choices.

But all he could see right now was the scarf.

It brought back so many memories of the man he was and the friends he had during that incarnation; Sarah-Jane, Romana …

Some happy memories and some not so much, but wrapped around Rose it wasn't so much an item of clothing as a mark of ownership.

It was like some girl wearing his shirt, or boxers. It was intimate and he felt a wave of possessiveness swamp him. More so than usual.

Rose was looking slightly self-conscious at his long stare and he plastered a smile on his face.

"Love the skirt, where'd you get the scarf?"

"Forget the scarf!" Jack said as he walked in, whistling. "Say _hello_ to those boots. It's a crime to have hidden those legs for so long. You should be spanked."

"Easy!" the Doctor bit out.

Rose blushed. "Jack!" she protested as he circled her shaking his head as he couldn't take his eyes off her legs.

"Yep, always knew it."

"What?" she asked.

"I'm a leg man," Jack gave her a huge grin, cheesy and endearing and she burst into giggles.

"You're such a flirt!"

He reached out and grabbed hold of both ends of the scarf pulling her closer. "Flirt's don't intend to follow through."

There was something about seeing Jack hold onto the ends of _his_ scarf and pull _his_ Rose closer that made the Doctor snap.

"Oi, Romeo, I don't keep you around here to flirt, following through or not. I need help with the TARDIS. Now pay your way and help me power her up, or clear out and go shopping."

Jack and Rose stared at his sharp tone. The Doctor silently met them stare for stare.

"Sorry, boss," Jack said with a charming grin. "I don't wanna be a freeloader. I'll pay my way. I just need to get my tools."

Jack left the room shooting the Doctor a knowing grin over his shoulder and the Doctor glared at his retreating form.

Damn Jack for not being an ignorant conman.

"How can I help?" Rose asked quietly, twirling the scarf around her fingers. "By staying out of the way, yeah?"

The Doctor moved closer and smiled at her. "Unless you've miraculously come up with the knowledge of how to adjust temporal distortion drives to—"

"I have trouble programming the video recorder," she interrupted. "Not so bright, me."

"Hey!" he admonished reaching out for the very scarf ends that Jack had abandoned. He pulled a very surprised Rose closer to him and tapped her on the end of the nose with one of the ends. "None of that. You just don't apply yourself. You are very clever, Rose Tyler."

She shrugged, clearly disbelieving.

"Okay, what are we doing in Cardiff?"

Rose shrugged again, clearly uncomfortable.

"C'mon, Rose. What happened last time we were here?"

It took her a few seconds. "The Gleth!" she pointed, her eyes opening wide. "Are they back?"

"No, but do you remember what I said about how they were getting through?"

"A weak point in space and time," she said promptly, surprising him with quoting him back almost word for word. "The connection between this place and another, mostly how we get ghost stories, yeah?"

"Right!" he said proudly.

"But I thought you said Gwyneth closed it, healed it so nothing could get through."

"I did and she did, but when you close any kind of wound what do you get?"

"A scab?" she said, half joking.

"Correct again, now unlike human scabs which just produce pus and gunk—"

"Ew!"

"—inter-dimensional scabs create energy. Like radiation."

Her eyes widened. "Is it dangerous, you know for people in Cardiff?"

"Nah, humans don't have the right physiology for it to be affected. It's like plonking a huge vat of intergalactic diesel in the centre of Cardiff. Humans can sense it if they are sensitive but, just like the TARDIS, they ignore it."

"But," Rose frowned, "the Slitheen came because they wanted to use the Earth to power space ships. Can space ships use this energy?"

"Rose Tyler," the Doctor said with a huge grin, "never, ever let anyone say you're not clever."

She smiled. "What?"

"That's exactly what we're doing here. The TARDIS can use the rift energy to power herself. We park here and fuel up. Should take a day or so."

"So, we're like on holiday now?"

"Yup, bit cold for a bikini though." He stroked the scarf. "Have to take you to Brazil or something for that." His voice had gone deep and low and he felt, more than saw Rose shudder.

He looked down into Rose's eyes. She was staring at him intently, her eyes flickering from his down to his lips, quite involuntarily.

She swallowed and he had to make himself move away from her and the temptation that she offered.

_Don't kiss her. _

_Don't kiss her. _

_It's a very, very bad idea. _

_On a scale of bad ideas it's right up there with 'at 'em boys, they're only space weevils'. _

He tucked the scarf ends into her jacket and backed away.

"Keep warm, yeah. Maybe you should find something entertaining to do. I know, get Rickey the idiot to come down, he's always good for a laugh."

"Oi!" she poked him. "Mickey's my friend."

_Boy friend. Remember that._

_She has a boyfriend and he's young and human. Not a 900 year old alien with a grudge the size of Texas._

_She's too young and innocent for you._

"Well, can't stop around here chopsing. You humans, talk all day you would."

He forced himself to walk away and ignore the smell of Rose's perfume and the smirk on Jack's face.

He forced himself to ignore Mickey the idiot and the tongue between the teeth as Rose teased him about Brazil.

He forced himself to abandon his fun and track down the Slitheen intent on ruining his day.

But he couldn't stop himself from taking her hand, holding her close and hugging her tightly. He couldn't stop himself from feeling jealous of Mickey the idiot for being able to kiss her and he couldn't stop wanting to gloat when Mickey let her go.

He didn't though because, at the end of the day, Rose was still wearing his scarf.

She'd never been Mickey's anyway.


End file.
